'There is no worse feeling than admitting your child into a psychiatric ward'

This week is my son Philip's third stint, and after eight months of living hell, I'm hoping it's a case of third time lucky.

Not that I'm giving up; I'll never, ever, EVER give up on my son.

Philip is 14 and suffers from anxiety and depression. It all started about three years ago when my beautiful boy didn't seem like himself and I started taking him to a psychologist thinking he was becoming a moody teenager.

Instead, his condition became worse in January, when he tried to die from suicide for the first time, and has made continual countless attempts.

He's been on suicide watch ever since, and two stays in a children's hospital psych ward, medication and multiple therapeutic interventions have so far failed to help.

Now he's in a psychiatric facility, heavily sedated after having a complete and total meltdown upon arrival. While I believe he is exactly where he needs to be, part of me can't help thinking Philip's treatment has been left too late.

Treatment for mental illness is still focused on cure instead of prevention. We are so busy talking about 'triggers', such as phone use and bullying, that we are neglecting to find out why some children who are exposed to these 'triggers' fall back on taking their own lives as a option.

That's the disease. Not everyone wants to die when bad things happen, just those with mental illness.

By the time our loved ones have thought about or even attempted that option, treatment becomes impossible, a case of managing the condition for their rest of their lives instead of ever completely removing it from their thought processes in the first place.

Jo Abi and her son Philip. (Supplied )

Still, it would be so great if there were services for parents, because we are the ones who have to continue care once our kids are sent home.

As the mother of a mentally-ill child, this statistic shows one thing, and one thing only: we are failing when it comes to treating the insidious diseases that fall under the umbrella term 'mental illness.'

"Suicide in Australia is increasing at the same time as deaths from most physical illnesses are decreasing," Lifeline Chairman John Brogden said in a statement. He suggests setting targets to focus Government funding and the community on suicide reduction.

"We should say as a nation that we want zero suicides and we are starting with a target to reduce suicide in Australia by 25% in the next five years," he said.

"3,128 people died last year from a mostly preventable illness [mental illness]. This is an outrage and it is no longer acceptable," he continued.

A good friend and I had been speaking earlier this week about the data being released today, hoping and praying it would show a decrease. To discover the suicide rate in Australia has jumped a staggering 9.1 per cent is chilling.

"Behind every number released today is a person who is cared for and loved, with family and friends left devastated by their loss," Mr Brogden said.

"This increase in Australian lives shattered must be met with a plan of action. Lifeline Australia calls on the Federal Government to set a national suicide reduction target to offer hope to those experiencing suicidal ideation and their loved ones."

I've been fighting to keep my son alive for majority of this year, and the thought that I could lose him is too utterly painful to bear. But as I've stood alongside him trying to help him in the fight of his life, I am left constantly disappointed by the treatment options we are being presented with.

He cites the National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program, saying it will help "deliver important awareness and stigma reduction activities, research, and leadership through a variety of projects."

It's his use of the word "variety" that chills me, because when you share $36 million among so many incredible mental health services, it becomes so diluted the prospect of making real change becomes even harder.

Curing our precious children's illnesses is so very hard. (iStock)

$36 million is not enough of an increase.

My son will be in psychological treatment for the next few weeks and after one night there (and eight months in and out of public treatment) I can rattle off several improvements that could be made today to help keep our loved ones alive, and prevent them from dying from suicide, particularly when it comes to children:

Full-time psychiatric care in every school across the country;

Increased training for GPs and hospital emergency units;

More staff at every single mental health ward and unit;

Better trained staff at every single mental health ward and unit;

Stringent protocols to ensure nothing and nobody falls through the cracks;

More and better support for families of those with mental illness because, after all, we are the ones who are left to care for them after our loved ones are discharged;

Better after-hours services and care for the mentally ill and their families.

I could go on and on but that's enough for now.

Lifeline Chairman John Brodgen has called for national targets to reduce suicide in Australia. (AAP)

Yesterday, Philip and I arrived at his psychiatric facility at midday, a time agreed upon with staff. We were given a quick tour of the facility, including his room that was still being cleaned.

After the tour we were left in a common area for three-and-a-half hours waiting to meet with someone, anyone, to discuss his treatment plan.

I'd taken half a day off work, something I was hesitant to do having had to take so much time off from since Philip's illness began. Eventually I had to leave to pick up my daughter and it was then that Philip's doctor and two other medical staff I also hadn't met decided to meet with him.

When I got back with my daughter, I was told Philip's doctors had been looking for me. They didn't find me, and clearly didn't know how to use a phone because they also hadn't called me. I was told they'd left for the day, and could I come back tomorrow at midday?

I work full time, and I'm pretty sure that in addition to medical care and medication, having a roof over his head, paid for by me through my work, is pretty important to Philip's mental health.

They had gone through Philip's possessions upon our arrival and placed those items deemed dangerous to one side in his room. That pile sat there all day, even when I ducked out to use the bathroom and had no choice but to leave my son alone for a few minutes. I had to ask them to put it all away.

His doctors had apparently left for the day and when I ask about Philip's medication, they said they weren't allowed to give him any unless the doctor had "signed off on it."

"Check his chart," I said. They did, and the medication was listed there but in the wrong doses.

I ran around the unit Shirley McClain-in-Terms-of-Endearment-style until I found a startled doctor who could correct the dosages.

She wrote them down along with the time he was to be given them.

The male suicide rate is three times higher. (iStock)

Sadly, she'd written 8:00 instead of 18:00, which meant staff were not allowed to give Philip his medication until 8pm - but he HAD to have them at 6pm, because his dangerous thoughts always peaked at night and his medication would send him safely to sleep.

More hysteria from me and a lovely, lovely nurse, who is a bit of a superhero to me now, found a doctor and had the time corrected.

Philip was medicated and it was only then that I could think of taking my two other children home where I would cook, clean, and do all of the work I hadn't completed during the day.

In Minister Hunt's media release about additional mental health funding, he talked about suicide as "a national tragedy", explaining male suicide rates are three times higher than females and the rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is around twice of non-Indigenous people.

He mentioned funding being given to the following organisations -- Suicide Prevention Australia, OzHelp Foundation, MATES in Construction, R U OK?, Everymind, Reach Out Australia, Mental Health First Aid Australia, Roses in the Ocean and the University of Western Sydney.

No mention was made of Lifeline, the organisation at the very frontline of suicide prevention, receiving an average of 115 calls each day from Australians, with crisis workers helping those people create a safety plan that will help keep them safe for the next 24 hours.

In fact, many mental health services and programs list Lifeline (13 11 14) as the number to call in times of crisis, so where is the funding for them? Lifeline receives a call from desperate Australians every 32 seconds, and Mr Brogden says "we need to answer more."

All of this is disheartening, to say the least, but the families of people suffering from mental illness are left with no choice but to try and work with the services we have, lest we sound ungrateful.

Mental illness is a national crisis, suicides in Australia are increasing, the stigma is stronger than ever, and the problem is affecting the country profoundly.

As a journalist, I get to write stories like these. I'm privileged to speak on behalf of the families of those suffering from mental illness, not all of whom have made it.

But at the end of the day I'm just a mum, trying to keep her child alive, like so many parents around the country and the world. And I'm at my wit's end.